[PAST EVENT] Technologies of Access & Inclusion in Ancient Greece

March 28, 2024
5pm - 6:30pm
Location
Boswell Hall (formerly Morton Hall), Room 220
100 Ukrop Way
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Access & Features
  • Free food
  • Open to the public

The AIA Alan Boegehold Lecture presents Debby Sneed, California State University Long Beach. She will talk on Technologies of Access & Inclusion in Ancient Greece.  Disability is a universal feature of human existence. In the modern world, and especially in an academic setting, we are accustomed to talking about accommodations and are familiar with assistive technologies that can mitigate the effects of some disabilities, from audiobooks and wheelchairs to hearing aids and prostheses. It is easy to account for the relative prevalence of such technologies against the backdrop of things like the pursuit of profit and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. In the ancient world, though, disabled people also made use of technologies as they navigated spaces and performed a variety of activities in their communities. By looking at assistive devices in the ancient world, we can see ways that disabled people lived outside of modern models of capitalism, charity, and medicalization and thereby recognize the myriad ways that disabled people have existed, continue to exist, and can exist in the world.

Sponsored by: Department of Classical Studies, W&M IDEA Grant and The Williamsburg AIA

Contact

Joyce Holmes at [[jrholm]]